


A Miracle Or An Accident

by MaryShimy



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-04 15:03:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14595603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryShimy/pseuds/MaryShimy
Summary: After a modeling gig at a winery/cheese store, Adrien finds himself missing his tiny god friend.Marinette, on the other hand, now has FIVE kittens!





	1. Pay more attention to your god friend, Adrien!

**Author's Note:**

> I need stress relief during finals, and my brain refuses to study, so here ya go!
> 
> Prompt: Marinette somehow ends up with Plagg. Panic ensues.
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fa/e3/ac/fae3ac6c59b3dc2085831b2cbfa6b33a.jpg (INSIPIRATION)

Adrien woke up that day both happy and scared. 

Happy because he only had one gig today to model at this winery slash cheese store the new tuxedo line - a family line, not like teens drinking wine, more like there will be other models pretending to be his family-, and Gabriel had promised he could spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out with Nino, Alya, Kim and Juleka. 

They were planning Marinette’s 17 birthday party. Juleka was the force behind the guest list, Kim was butt kissing his way through the school to get them permission to use the courtyard for the party, Nino oversaw music, and Alya was in charge of ordering everyone around. Adrien was there to have fun with his friends. There was something else that required him to be at the party at all cost, but he wasn’t in on the joke.

Now why was he scared? Well. . . Because he was going to a winery slash Cheese store. And Plagg has had a habit of sneaking out of his backpack to sneak a bite from anywhere if there’s cheese. And there’s been to many ‘they almost saw you’ and ‘where did all the cheese go?’ and ‘did anyone see that black blur?’.

So, he was tense. And it was showing.

“M. Agreste, could you please focus on the camera? And could you not look like you’re at a dental’s appointment about to have a tooth removed?” This was M. Daquin’s 7th plead, and honestly, all the models were also getting angsty with Adrien’s lack of attention. 

“Sorry.” And he was, thanks to his worrying for Plagg they were now twenty minutes behind schedule. And Alya is surprisingly strict about schedule considering how lenient she is with Marinette. 

Adrien was finishing cleaning off his face of makeup when Alya rang.

He sighed and answered, “I know, I know-“

“If you know then why is there an empty chair next to Nino?” 

“I’ll be there soon. Give me, say . . . twenty minutes? Twenty-five?” He got up from the chair, throwing away the towelette, and picking up his backpack. 

“You have ten.”

“Wha-“

“Ten.” She left no room for question or objection.

“Dates with you must be a hoot!” He flinched as soon as he said it, remembering who he was being sarcastic and sassy with.

“They are. They are so organized and punctual, we always have enough time to make out and mess around a lot before we go home.”

Adrien stopped, wincing, before exiting the building. “. . . I love Nino, and I love you, and I know you two love each other. But that wasn’t something I ever needed to know.”

“Nine minutes.”

“Bye!”

He got in the car, considering whether to tell Gorilla to press the pedal or to take Alya’s rant when he got there, deciding at the end that the strange look from Gorilla was better than Alya’s rants. 

“Gorilla, can we make it to Délices Sucrés Bakery in eight minutes?”

Gorilla looked back, eyebrows raised, and shook his head.

Adrien sighed, “Even if we break a few laws? I won’t tell dad.” 

Gorilla paused, and then turned on the car, and Adrien knew they’d make it there in seven.

Inside the winery Marinette was helping Mme. Curie put away all the props and clean the dining area when she heard a squeak.

When she looked down she saw a tiny black kitten with the most bizarre yet beautiful big eyes, that kinda reminded her of her partner. She smiled and picked it up, petting its little head, “I’m so sorry little guy. How did you even get in here?”

The kitten looked up in silence and stared, seeming almost wise, like it understood her. 

“Can you walk?” She placed the kitten on the nearby table and watched as the kitten just sat down and looked around, seemingly confused and scared. It almost sat like a human. 

She pitied the poor thing and felt guilty for stepping on it. She leaned closed to it and whispered, “Listen, I’m gonna take you home, and I’m gonna take good care of you, but you can’t make any noise when I get home. I live in a bakery and I’m not allowed pets. Food and hair don’t go together.” 

She looked around and saw Mme. Curie talking on the phone, most likely with M. Agreste Sr talking about Adrien’s aloofness today. She was supposed to stay behind the scenes, helping the crew with the props and such, but when Mme. Curie wasn’t looking she snuck into the set and took a quick glance, only to see Adrien getting scolded. 

To say she took this assistant internship under Mme. Curie, a designer at Gabriel Fashion, to see more of Adrien would be . . . the truth. It would be the cold, shameless truth. But of course, this was a very low internship, and the pay was as ridiculous as the jobs Mme. Curie has had her do. This is the most she had done all month. Otherwise she spends her weekends and afternoons getting coffee, or tissues, or snacks, or dog treats. Nothing related to fashion. But it was all worth it for those sneak glances of Adrien. 

Once Mme. Curie walked away to continue her conversation in private, Marinette opened her pouch. “Tikki, can you spare some space in there?”

“Not more kittens Mari. How are you even going to fit one inside here? We already have four at home!”

Tikki was . . . right. Marinette had a problem. Somewhere last year, maybe, MAYBE, after Chat confessed to Marinette his feelings for Ladybug, she had acquired this itch to take the stray cats in and take care of them. She takes mostly the kittens though since they’re easier to sneak into her backpacks and into her balcony. So far, she’s acquired four. She had five at one point, but its owner put up a missing sign poster, so she got in suit and delivered that little cutie to them. Now she’s back to five, and surprisingly enough, she won’t need her backpack -which she didn’t bring- to take this one home.

“Come on, Tikki. This one is small and seems to be very quiet, I’m sure this one won’t bother you that much, if even at all.”

Tikki sighed and made space along with her macaroons, “It’s not like you’ll listen to me anyway even if I tell you to not do it.” 

Marinette picked up the kitten, “We are just making ourselves a little family of our own, Tikki.” 

She delicately as possible placed the tiny kitten in her pouch, immediately closing it as Mme. Curie came back, telling her she needed to take some mail to the post office before she went home. 

Meanwhile inside the pouch Tikki was having a panic attack along with the black kitten. 

“Plagg!!?” She was trying to keep her voice as low as possible, as to not attract Mari’s attention.

Plagg looked around the pouch, scared to face Tikki in this little, HUGE, fuck up. “. . . She stepped on my tail.”

“Why are you here? Where’s Adrien? Why aren’t you with him? Why didn’t you immediately hide? Why!?”

Plagg blinked, rubbing his tail, “. . . There was cheese and-“

“Ugh! Plagg! Does Adrien know you aren’t with him?”

“I . . . believe not? I think . . . he was in a rush. . .”

Tikki stared at Plagg, completely tired of this situation, and it has barely even started. 

“Marinette thinks you’re a kitten.”

“I know.”

“She basically adopted you.”

“I know.”

“You need to be with Adrien to transform.”

“I know.”

“She can’t know Adrien is Chat Noir yet!”

“I know.”

“So, we can’t tell her to bring you back –“

“I know Tikki! I know! I’ve thought of all that the moment she picked me up! I may be chill, but I’m not stupid!”

“You are in a pouch with me instead of your chosen.”

“Ok, maybe a little stupid. But mostly hungry.” 

“What are we going to do!?” 

Plagg would be lying if he said he wasn’t enjoying this situation. He hasn’t been with his little bug in so long, this was a bittersweet reunion. And there was always the thrill of edging her on. But he’s not an asshole, and this wasn’t edging her on. This was causing a ridiculous amount of stress on his little bug, and he felt horrible for being the cause of it. 

“We’ll figure something out. We always do. We always have.”

Tikki scoffed and sat down on her macaroons, “Don’t get sweet with me now, I’m angry at you.”

He sat down next to her, hugging her close, “I know.”


	2. This Starts Out Really Nice, But Goes Downhill Really Fast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Mari's kittens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS FINALS! AND I ONLY SLEPT TWO HOURS!! HAHAHAHA. HELP!
> 
> Anyway, I'm posting this because the end of this chapter felt like a nice place to stop it and because I feel the same (wink wink Adrien) at the moment. I just finished a final project presentation, and I'm two hours away from an design legislation final exam I didnt study for. So, I need a pick me up and releasing this chapter and watching that hit count go up will do it for me. 
> 
> Enjoy.

It was somewhere around lunch when Marinette got home, glad she had an early day of work, so she could spend the rest of it taking care of her new kitten. She immediately rushed past her parents, to her room, towards the balcony, dropping everything but her side pouch as she got there.

Once she got to her balcony, four little mewls called out for her. Four kittens began to come out from behind the lawn chair, Pawsy - a white ragdoll -, being the first and oldest was leading the pack. She created a habit of naming each kitten after the last joke or pun Chat used, almost like an homage. She wished she could share her little friends with Chat, but she had no idea how she would even start to explain why she was introducing him to five kittens.

Pawsy reached her legs and immediately began sniffing, figuring she brought a new friend. Behind him Cattitude, Clawsome and Tails stumbled forward, still learning how to move. Cattitude, a ginger ball of love, and Clawsome, a white and grey spotted glutton, came second and together, and Mari was almost one hundred percent positive that they sisters. Tails came last, after a buddy fight between Rena and Chat, a fight which Mari couldn’t even remember what started it, probably her accidentally. She was a grey British Shorthair, who craved cuddling. 

“Hey girls, and Pawsy, I brought a new friend.”

Inside Plagg was trying to get some sort of cat instincts and going as loose as possible.

“You can’t fly.” Tikki whispered quickly as Mari opened the pouch.

When Mari looked in to reach for the black kitten Tikki was holding him. To Tikki it was rather odd that Mari didn’t connect the dots to Plagg being a kwami, but then again, Plagg was much bigger than her and looked more like his animal than she did. 

“I can take him, Tikki.” Mari reached down and delicately wrapped her fingers around Plagg.

Tikki whimpered as she let go, rushing out of the pouch to intently watch the kittens, hoping they wouldn’t rat Plagg out.

Mari placed Plagg on the floor in front of Pawsy and the crew, giving him one last fingernail rub on his little head, “What shall I name you?”

Pawsy moved forward, sniffing Plagg out, before just backing out and sitting next to Marinette’s feet. 

“Don’t like him Pawsy?” Mari worried for a second, not wanting to leave their new little fella on the streets, but also, not wanting any problems with the other kittens. Pawsy just meowed and moved towards the bowl that needed to be refilled. Clearly, he didn’t care about what was going on, only about food. 

When the girls reached Plagg, Tails jumped in, trying to start a game with their new buddy, while the other two stayed back, assessing the situation. 

Marinette shrugged, “They’ll get used to him. Now again, names? What dumb joke Chat said yesterday?”

Tikki did her best to remain nonchalant and helped her along, “’Let’s paws and reflect.’” 

Mari sighed, “Right. . . I can’t have two Pawsy’s.”

“How about just Paws?”

Plagg looked up, almost glaring at Tikki for playing along at giving him a new name, “Nah, Pawsy could easily mistake it. Claws?”

Tikki zoomed to the floor, hovering over Plagg, “Isn’t that Chat’s transformation word?”

Marinette kneeled in front of the kitten and smiled, “Well, this one in particular reminds me a lot of Chat. Look at it’s eyes.” 

Tikki shook her head and murmured, “Oh I am looking.” And she was hoping Marinette wouldn’t look too much. Up close Plagg stopped looking that much like a cat and more like a cartoon. Or like Tikki. 

Marinette rubbed its tiny head with her fingernails, “ . . . Chat.”

“Where?” Tikki paused immediately as she asked. Why did she ask? She knew Chat wasn’t coming anytime soon.

“No. I’m going to name him Chat.” 

“Oh.” Tikki looked at Plagg, who was staring at her, and whispered under her breath, “Oh, the irony.” 

Marinette looked at Tikki, then at kitty Chat, “Oh, she’s just a good friend of mine. Not a chew toy, not a toy at all, a lovable, cute friend.”

“Mari, if you don’t like it when Adrien says you are just a friend, neither does anyone else.”

“Oh . . . what?”

“I thought I was your best friend.”

“Oh! You are! My bestest friend. On top of my list! I owe my life and every great thing about it to you. I didn’t mean to belittle you. I just don’t want him to hurt you and think you were a toy. I was trying to . . . humanize you I guess. . .”

Tikki nodded, not expecting Mari to take it so seriously when she was just trying to poke fun at her comment and to bring her attention back to Adrien. “. . . Anyway! Lets feed the others.”

“Let’s feed all of them…?”

Tikki paused on her way to get the homemade cat food, looked back at Mari, looked at Plagg with wide eyes, then back at Mari remembering Plagg’s picky diet, “. . . Uhu.”

Mari did notice Tikki’s nervous behavior, “Tikki, is something wrong?”

Plagg laughed internally, almost hoping it would be Tikki who rats them out, so he could finally have one over her. Tikki just turned around and went for the cat food, “Oh no! No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.”

“Yeah, that seventh ‘no’ really made me feel like everything was all right. I wasn’t feeling it at the fifth, but the seventh one? Yes.” Marinette stood up and crossed her arms, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Tikki! Come on, we don’t keep secrets- . . . well, besides the identity thing and me knowing the ingredients to the potions, we don’t keep secrets from each other! Best friends don’t keep secrets from each other.”

“You would think so.”

The new voice in the conversation made three eyes go wide with panic.

Plagg laid down and tried really hard to pretend he didn’t care about what was going on, blending with the kittens and figuring that its best he remained unnoticed in this disaster. 

Tikki was frozen in the air, not really sure if hiding now would be effective or counter effective. 

Marinette just stared at Alya, eyes wide, as Alya stared at Tikki confused. “Wha- what- what- what ar-are y-you d-d-doing here?”

“Came to reserve next Saturday for a movie day with the crew when I heard you talking to someone about they being your best friend, and I felt a bit insulted, so I came up here to see who I had to fight for that tittle. . . can I even fight that? What is that even? Why can it talk? What identity are you guys keeping secret?”

Tikki and Marinette just stared at each other, frozen and unsure about what to do or say. 

Alya looked at both of them, realizing they were having their own silent conversation. “Ok. Fine. Ok. Unbelievable. Here I am, your supposedly best friend! Coming here to ask you to not work next Saturday so that you could come to your surprise birthday party that I, your supposedly best friend! Had been planning for the past month! And my supposedly best friend! Can’t even tell me what the flying thing is.” Alya began to walk away, opening the hatch, “You know, I trusted you with everything. I just thought you could do the same with me.”

“That’s not true.”

Tikki shook her head, accepting their faith and the fact that Marinette was going to do what she had to do to keep her other best friend in her life, and settled on the table next to the cat food. 

“Not true?” Alya shut the hatch with force and turned towards Marinette, rushing angrily at her, “Not true!? What have I ever kept from you!?”

Marinette sighed, not wanting to do this, and looked at her straight in the eyes and crossed her arms, “I don’t know. You tell me Rena Rouge.” 

It was now Alya’s turn to freeze. She blinked, and kept blinking, before stuttering, “W-what w-w-what w-what a-are you t-t-talking about? I d-don’t-t know what-t you are t-talking about.” 

Marinette looked down at her feet, nervous about Alya’s next rant before looking at her in the eyes, “I do. I know better than anyone. I also know who Carapace and Queen Bee are.”

Alya stopped, wanting to both ask her how she knew about Rena, but also ask her who Carapace and Queen Bee are. She was visually struggling to voice it, both the hero and the gossip fighting for who gets to speak first. “U-uh wh- ho-, no wh- . . . how?”

Marinette sighed, “Because I’m the one who gives them all their miraculouses.” 

Alya nodded, not connecting for a moment what she was implying. “Oh. Ok, so … you know who Carapace and Queen Bee are. . . who are th- . . . wait . . . you didn’t- . . . Lady- Oh!”

Mari nodded and sat down on the lawn chair, hoping to come unscathed from Alya’s freak out.

“Oh my GOD! You are Ladybug!?” 

Across the city Adrien was desperately searching for Plagg all over the winery. 

“Have you found what you were looking for M. Agreste?” 

Adrien sighed as the shop owner asked for the fifth time, clearly a bit annoyed that Adrien forced her to open it up again on the day off. 

Adrien looked around, realizing the shop was smaller than he remembered and that he had already checked everywhere. “I-I guess.” 

“Then please, young sir, I must prepare the shop for tomorrow.”

Adrien nodded and went outside, joining Gorilla inside the car. 

Gorilla looked back, waiting for any other odd orders, “Just take me home.” Gorilla nodded and started the car. 

To say that Adrien was panicking was an understatement. He only realized Plagg was missing when he left the hangout, and already figured that Plagg wouldn’t be still in the shop, but he still needed to make sure. He was desperately hoping Plagg would have found his way back home but knew that was asking too much of life. 

That night Adrien got home, showered, and got into bed trying to relax and forget that at the moment his life was falling apart too quickly. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep but every time he was almost gone an image of Ladybug, in danger fighting off much more than she can handle and asking where Chat Noir is, kept waking him up. 

He started slowly crying, knowing that he not only disappointed Ladybug, but also Master Fu and all of Paris, and hell, all the previous miraculous holders, by losing his tiny god friend. He turned around and shoved his face on the pillow, hoping, praying, that when he finally passed out from exhaustion and woke back up, everything would have all been a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELP! I'M SO TIRED! 
> 
> Nah, but for real. I appreciate the comments and they encourage (and remind me) to keep writing. 
> 
> If you got any tips, don't feel afraid to share. I'm still learning and help very appreciated.
> 
> But again, for real, HELP! FINALS ARE KILLING ME!


	3. Because Hawk Moth Never Waits Too Long To Send A New Akuma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Too many confessions in one chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing and I couldn't stop. So I cut it with Tikki. So technically I'm halfway through the next chapter. Which I think will be the last. I don't know how else to drag this on. 
> 
> Enjoy.

When Nino got to school on Monday morning, he found a very peculiar but kind of familiar scene. 

Marinette and Alya were huddled close together, whispering vigorously between one another, Chloe was ranting to anyone who would listen about being given a modeling gig somewhere he didn’t care about, and Adrien looked like a zombie in his chair, almost passing out every few seconds.

He worried that Marinette had managed to get the information about the surprise party out of Alya but decided that his best friend was more important now, so he went towards him first.

Nino sat down next to Adrien and patted him on the back, startling him as he was dozing off again, “You ok buddy?”

Adrien shook his head and laid his head down on his folded arms, “Haven’t slept that well since Friday. Been having nightmares.” 

“Wanna talk about them?” 

Adrien shook his head, “Just distract me, and keep me awake.”

Nino nodded and began talking to him about these new beats he was making for some random party he was going to soon. 

Behind him Marinette was paying less attention to Alya and more to the sleep deprived Adrien. 

“Marinette? Are you even listening?”

Marinette pulled Alya even closer and whispered, “He’s having nightmares!”

“. . . Sometimes I worry for you. This isn’t healthy sweetheart.”

Marinette shook her head, “He’s having nightmares, and it’s not the anniversary of the passing of his mom.” 

Alya continued to stare at Mari, “. . . How do you even know that- you know what? I don’t want to know- . . . wait.” Alya pulled Mari closer, they were basically face to face now, and whispered much quieter, “Did Ladybug acquire this information, or should I worry about your stalker skills?”

Mari scoffed at Alya, “It’s on the Gabriel Fashion website-“

“No Mari, I know when she passed. I meant, how do you know that he only has nightmares on those nights?”

Mari paused, staring at Alya, “. . . yeah . . . you should worry.”

Alya pulled back a little, “Was it illegal?”

“It could be, maybe.”

“Mari!” 

Mari pulled her close again and whispered furiously to her, “We have stolen his phone like twenty times by now, you can’t preach to the the choir when you’re just as much of a sinner as I am.” 

“Ugh.” Alya pulled away and settled on her chair, “I hate when you’re right. Much more when you shouldn’t be.”

Mari shrugged and went back to staring at Adrien. 

“Adrikins, honey, what should we do after the modeling gig next Saturday?”

Adrien looked up at Chloe, confused on so many levels. “What?”

“Well, I was thinking dinner at Restaurant Le Gabriel, to celebrate me getting hired as a model with you.”

Adrien blinked, “. . . what?”

“What don’t you get, Adrikins?”

“Everything.” Adrien sat up and turned towards Chloe, “You are working for my father?”

“Yes! I got hired last week, and next Saturday we have our first gig together! Took a lot of convincing to get uncle Gaby to let us work together, and to do it so soon, but I managed!”

Adrien turned towards Marinette, “Did- . . . did you know about this?”

Marinette froze for a second, not realizing Adrien even knew she was interning at his father’s company, then shook her head.

“I feel . . . I feel like this is something that would have quickly spread all over the company. Why am I finding out now?” 

Chloe scoffed and reached her most annoying decibel of whining, “I told you last week! Weren’t you listening?” 

Adrien blinked, “Huh.” He shrugged, and turned back to Nino before freezing, “Wait.” He turned back to find a disgruntled Chloe, “Next Saturday? I’m not working next Saturday.”

“Yes, we are. At the park, for the summer collection.” 

Adrien remained quiet, as he thought it over, before he got up and rushed out of the room. 

“What- what did I say?”

Nino looked at her, then back at Marinette, “Uhm- “

“Next Saturday is Marinette’s birthday party and Adrien really wanted to go and relax.” 

Nino looked back at Alya, freaked out, before realizing that, of course, Marinette already knew. 

“So?” 

Alya just blinked and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. 

Marinette gave her a soft pat before turning to Chloe. “Chloe. Please. Just take a moment to understand. Not me, not my birthday party. But Adrien. Adrien wanting to spend a weekend not working and having fun with his friends. Adrien who has spent all his childhood slaving for his father. Adrien who is your best friend and does almost everything you ask of him. He just wants one weekend.”

Years ago, Chloe wouldn’t have given two fucks about what Marinette was saying. But the last time Ladybug came to her to let her borrow Pollen to save Paris, she told Chloe that to be a Miraculous you had to stand by its values, and that Chloe’s behavior at school and to her friends was the complete opposite of those values. Chloe really wanted to be an official Miraculous and to spend more time with Pollen. 

Chloe reluctantly went back to her chair, “I’ll see what I can do.”

The entire classroom was baffled that Marinette’s word actually worked, Marinette wasn’t. Yeah, it was kind of cheating that Marinette was using Ladybug to bribe Chloe into being a better person, but she was making her a better person, so who cares.

Adrien walked back in with Mme. Bustier. “Alright kids, we have a very fun class today if an Akuma doesn’t disrupt it.”

Adrien sat down, silently panicking, while the rest of the class laughed. 

He spent basically the rest of the class, hell, the school day just staring out the window and hoping Mme. Bustier didn’t jinx it. 

“Ok, what is it? You look like you’ve seen not just one ghost, but an entire orgy of them. . . in an orgy. What’s wrong?” Nino was accompanying Adrien home, to work on the history project, and to annoy/convince Gabriel to give Adrien the next Saturday off. 

“I’m going for the world record of fuck ups in the short span of a week.” 

Nino scoffed, “Listen, unless you got Chloe pregnant, you are fine. . . You didn’t get Chloe pregnant, did ya?” 

Adrien rolled his eyes, but gave a small smile, “Chloe’s not my type.”

Nino nodded, “Right, your type are dark haired ladies with blue eyes and a slim but strong build. Now who does that remind me of?”

Adrien scoffed and looked out the window, smiling at an old argument that Nino just loved to bring up over and over again. “Ladybug.”

“No. No. I was thinking a little less red. Maybe pink. Do you know anyone like that Adrien? Anyone close to us with a nearby birthday who has dark hair, blue eyes, a slim but strong build and likes to wear pink? I think her name rhymes with ‘Larinette’.”

“Nino stop.” 

“Why can’t you just consider Marinette? You enjoy talking to her, you enjoy spending time with her, you get excited when I tell you she’s coming to any event we are going to, and you asked that designer lady to bring Marinette to the photoshoot. You clearly are interested in her.”

Adrien sighed, “She’s just a-“

“Don’t you dare give me that ‘just a friend’ bullshit! You told me you were talking with your father to get a trade so that Marinette could get a real internship at his company. You said you were going to take more jobs as trade to your father making a spot for Marinette in his crew. You are slaving yourself just to get her a job in something you know she loves. Alya asked me to babysit her sisters two weeks ago and I told her I had a gig when I really just spent the entire day in bed doing nothing, simply so I could get a break from those two energy balls, and I love that girl. You are putting as much effort as I do with my relationship, and yet you keep bullshitting us with the ‘just friends’ excuse. You like her!”

Adrien gave a heavy sigh and finally looked at Nino. “. . . Maybe.”

“Wow, pride really does run in your family.” Nino looked out the window, slightly mad at Adrien for not blatantly admitting he cared for Marinette as more than a friend.

“I’ve been rejected by a girl I loved already. I’m not ready to get that from sweet Marinette.”

Nino froze, scared that if he said something excitedly Adrien would shut down again, slowly he said, “When did Ladybug reject you?”

Adrien laughed, he couldn’t tell Nino the full story, or maybe- no, no. You can’t tell Nino the whole story. Only when Master Fu comes to you to tell you to give him back the ring for being so irresponsible. “A few years ago. Those were a rough few months.”

“I’m sorry dude.”

Adrien shrugged, slouching in the seat, “It was a longshot.” It wasn’t. He works with her almost every day, but Nino couldn’t know that yet.

Nino patted his shoulders, considering his options. Play a really long game with Alya where they set Adrien and Marinette up on many dates until they finally figure out what Alya and Nino are doing and why, and they finally get together, or, betray Alya and Marinette’s trust and just tell him now. 

“. . . Listen, dude, you can’t tell anyone I told you. Much less Alya, she would kill me, or maybe Marinette will, I don’t know, so don’t risk it. But . . .” Adrien looked at him, expectantly and tired, “Marinette has basically had a massive crush on you for the past three years. Every time you tell anyone you guys are just friends, you are basically stabbing her in her feelings. But I’m more than one hundred percent sure that she would forgive you in an instant if you tell her that you are getting her an internship!” 

When he started Adrien looked baffled and a bit excited for the news, but as he went on -and he didn’t know why, it was like a word barf, he just couldn’t stop- he saw horror and guilt play on Adrien’s eyes, most likely as he replayed in his mind every moment he did that to Marinette, and much more the recent ones where Adrien was only doing it because he was scared of being rejected by her, most definitely feeling stupid about the dumb dance they have been doing this past few years, so he tried to fix it, but how can you fix that? It’s the truth. You can’t come back from the truth.

“How has Alya not killed me?”

“I’m very persuasive, and a very good kisser.” 

Adrien choked on a laugh, “How is Marinette still my friend?”

Nino shrugged, getting comfortable with Adrien, “You can’t choose who you love, and love makes you stupid.” Adrien nodded, closing his eyes as he realized his list of fuck-ups was getting longer by the minute.

It was around eight pm when Alya got two texts, one from Nino and one from Adrien, both brief and direct.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I’m coming over. Don’t tell her. Leave.’

After a two hour argument with Marinette to convince her to tell her who the other Miraculous were, Alya was too tired to figure out what either meant, she gave a heavy sigh, “Listen, bug, I’m gonna go downstairs and help your parents with the baking prep. You stay here and make me a dress themed around Rena.”

Alya didn’t give Mari any room to argue or question that statement, and before Mari could ask why, her brain filled with ideas for a clothing line for autumn and she was mad because now she couldn’t concentrate on Alya abandoning her in the middle of their sleepover. 

Mari grabbed her sketchbooks and a jar of pencils and headed to the balcony to sketch with her kittens. As she sat down she noticed Tikki had become very fond of kitty Chat, “Has he eaten yet?”

Tikki nodded as she sat on a flower pot with the kitten sleeping next to her. 

“I don’t understand why he was so shy at first. All the others were excited to eat when I first brought them here. Do you think he didn’t like the kitty biscuits?” 

Tikki shook her head, “Maybe he had a different diet prior to us finding him.”

Marinette shrugged, “I guess. Anyway, I’m going to sketch for a while.”

“I’ll keep them under control.”

When Marinette, or anyone for that matter, appears on the balcony all the kittens just jump at them for attention, and Tikki and Mari had created a habit of Mari sketching on the balcony with fresh air, and Tikki distracting the kittens so they don’t bother Marinette by stealing her pens, or laying on her sketchbooks, or else. 

Marinette was surrounded by sketches, both good and ‘oh my god, were you temporarily high when you did them?’, when she heard the balcony hatch open. “Finished with the bakery prep for tomorrow?”

“Well they appeared to have just started on the muffins.” 

Marinette loves her materials. She loves them. So, a part of her was furious that in that moment of panic and ‘oh mY GOD!!!’ she broke one of her favorite erasable color pencils in half. But the other part was still yelling ‘god’ in her head.

She turned to see Adrien coming up and looking around the balcony. “What a beautiful place. This is a great view.” 

Adrien knew this was a beautiful view, Adrien knew this was an amazing place, and really good for conversations. It was here where he told her how he was in love with Ladybug. Well, not him, Chat. But again, she couldn’t know that.

“Hi.” Marinette stayed where she was sitting, frozen in place. She wanted to stand up, but she was wearing a camisole and rather short pajama bottoms, along with mismatched knee-high socks that were too loose and old and hung around her calves. She was not dressed to impress. 

“So, I talked with my dad, and they are moving the photoshoot for Sunday. That way I can, for sure, go to your birthday party, that from what I heard, is no longer a surprise.” Adrien reached the fence and rested upon it, remembering that night perfectly. Ladybug unknowingly ditching him, and Marinette being there for him. She couldn’t thank her again for it. She wouldn’t know why he was thanking her.

Marinette remained sitting, with her sketchbooks on her lap. “That’s good. Really good. I’m so glad you can be there for my birthday party.”

Adrien turned around and lifted himself to sit on the fence, almost with a familiar ease that Marinette recognized but couldn’t pin point. He even crossed his legs, comfortably I might add, and casually kept balance. He looked like he’d done that before, but Adrien had never been past Mari’s bedroom, and that confused her. “Well, I should be considering how much of Alya’s craziness I’ve had to deal with helping her plan this.”

Mari leaned back on her chair, trying to match his level of comfort, “Oh. I had no idea you were part of the planning committee.”

Adrien shrugged, the gesture not even knocking him back or slightly unbalancing him. “I’m mostly paying for the things that the others can’t afford.”

Mari’s eyes widen as she stood up and rushed towards him, “Oh no. No. No, no, no, no, no. You don’t have pay for this. You don’t have to spend money on m-“ 

“I’m just paying for the food and the decorations. Which is fair, considering I tend to spend most of my time by the food tables. Plus, it would be an honor to spend my fortune on such a fair princess.”

Mari froze in front of Adrien, and it was obvious from even a mile away that she was short-circuiting. She didn’t know where to start. The deja-vu of that moment she had with Chat? The rather obvious compliment, maybe even flirt? The fact the it is ADRIEN who is sending subtle flirts her way? 

“. . . Forgive my boldness, but I have to ask. Are you flirting with me?” And bold she was, but only because she could actually notice the flirt, and she’s been told she can be rather blind to people flirting with her, so this one must be beyond obvious if she can pick it up.

“Yeah,” Adrien looked down at his crossed legs, “Its about time I reciprocate. I’ve been told I’m a blind idiot who doesn’t notice- . . . Yeah.”

“Notice what?”

“Well. . .” I’m sorry Nino, “I was told you’ve had a crush on me for a good while, and to be honest I’ve had one too.”

“. . . on yourself? Because half of Paris does as well-“

“Don’t devalue your feelings Marinette. They mean a lot to me. I’m sorry it took me so long to notice that you had a crush on me and not that you had friendly feelings towards me. No. Scratch that. I thought you still disliked me. For a long while you wouldn’t talk to me, not even look at my face, and then Nino and Alya started spending time together, so we spent time together. And eventually you began talking comfortably to me and looking at me. And I just thought you were just accepting that we had to be friends because our best friends were dating. I never. . . it never felt like you were just shy, only towards me. Because it was only towards me, and I always saw you being so bold and firm towards everyone else. I never considered I might be the exception.”

Mari just stared as she took it all in. Adrien thought she was being amicable because of forced relations, and that she didn’t like him, and then, I think, said that he liked her back, for a while, and. . . Wow, what an evening. 

“Wow.”

“I’m sorry I just dropped that all on you.”

“No. No. If I’m not allowed to . . . devalue? My feelings, than you can’t apologize for expressing yours. I’m sorry I made it seem that way. I guess I could have been more clear. I just didn’t think you cared.”

“Well. . . for a while I hid it. Strongly.”

Mari looked at him in the eyes, “Why?”

Adrien shrugged, looking back, “A few years ago, on a night just like this, I got rejected by the previous most important Lady in my life. It was rough, and I was not prepared to go through that again. Much less with a girl as great as you.”

“Well, she doesn’t know what she’s missing.” She smiled, placing her hand on top of his. Maybe she was tired and had a lack of conscience to hold her back, but she can’t deny she’s being bolder than usual.

Adrien grabbed her hand and wrapped it in both of his, “I think she was in a similar situation, like a guy who didn’t like her back. I don’t understand it. I mean, who would say no to Ladybug?”

Marinette smiled and shrugged while inside she was question and revising all her memories as Ladybug, trying to remember rejecting Adrien. “Yeah, who would. Haha. Hey, out of curiosity, when- when did she reject you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I- I don’t feel. . . comfortable sharing that story.” Mari nodded and sighed.

“So, what does that mean?”

“. . . That Ladybug doesn’t like me, so after months of accepting that, I was finally awake enough to realize I set my sights too impossibly high and that I had a perfectly awesome girl right behind me?”

Mari giggled, “I meant after that. What- what- why you tell me this?”

“Well. I mean, it is your birthday, but if you spend more than twenty minutes with me and hold my hand through all of them, we can consider that our first date.”

Mari smiled, “That would be good, yes-“

Mari stopped as she saw a bright light flash in the distance. “What was that?”

Adrien dropped from the fence and turned around to look. “What was wha-“

In the distance there was the sound of people screaming and chaos quickly increasing. “An akuma.”

This was it. This was the moment Adrien had been dreading for the past two days. It was rather fair and almost miraculous that Hawk Moth had not send any in the past two days. But his time was up, and it was time to face the music.

Adrien looked at Marinette to notice she was already staring at him, terrified. “Oh, do not worry, Mari. We aren’t close, and I’m sure Ladybug will save the day- night.”

Mari nodded, still looking terrified. What was she going to do? Kick him out to transform? After he asked her on a date on her birthday party? Which he helped plan? AFTER CONFESSING HIS FEELINGS FOR HER? WHY NOW?

They both looked out at the distance, only to see a building begin to collapse. This was no regular, ‘someone made me sad’ akuma. This was a furious and destructive Akuma. The most dangerous. And if Ladybug didn’t appear soon, there will be casualties. 

“Uhm, could you… could you go inside?” 

“We should both probably go inside. Or far away from here maybe.”

“Yeah . . . uhm, you go inside first. I’m gonna clean up my art supplies and I’ll meet you inside.”

Adrien was about to reply, not feeling comfortable letting his date out here in the danger without even his un-costumed protection, when he heard a familiar voice.

“Ok. This isn’t time to explain or freak out or talk. Just transform and we’ll deal with this later.” Well, almost familiar.

“Tikki!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention but THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE LOVE!!!  
> Thanks! You guys mentioned so many things which I tried to include or still am trying to include in the story, some I didn't do so well. One I think I'm doing good. I appreciate all your comments and kudos and love. Oh, the love!  
> Keep posted for the next and maybe last one. I hope to finish this before school ends next week.


	4. Marinette flung Adrien halfway across Paris. Does anyone remember that?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She flung him halfway across Paris!!!!  
> (and some emotional stuff too)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. To start off I want to explain why it took so long, and to do so I have to explain my writing progress for stories like this one that comes out of nowhere:  
> I don't do a storyboard, or a chart, or a guide, nothing.  
> For stories like this one, I basically let the story take me where it wants to go, let the characters lead me where the story should go. And that was the problem.  
> I knew where I wanted this to go,  
> Mari takes Plagg, Adrien stresses, Adrien one way or another ends up on Mari's house (originally my idea was a game night), Adrien sees Mari's kitten, recognizes Plagg and drops some lie that Plagg is his cat, 'thanks for finding him, bye'. End of story.  
> No reveal, no love confession. Nothing. But that's not what the characters wanted, that's not where the story wanted to go. All that happened ... happened, and then I was stuck in a fight I didn't want to write, and two angry and confused teens that didn't want to talk to each other. And I had no idea how to solve their problem. And THAT'S why it took so long. Cuz I had to play counselor with these two.  
> I'm basically a mom, and this story is my baby, and . . . it had a rebellious phase, and it took me a while to get it back on track. I'm sorry about my baby. I hope it's still good enough for you guys.
> 
> Sorry for the long note. ENJOY!!!

Now it was time for Adrien to short circuit. As Ladybug’s kwami began to argue with Marinette, Ladybug? About priorities and timing, Adrien replayed the previous conversation where Mari asked when did Ladybug reject him, realizing she was finding it odd when she never rejected him, but Chat. 

“Shut it. We don’t have time. You two don’t want people’s lives on your hands, do you?”

Tikki looked at Adrien, waiting for him to reply. Adrien remembered that both kwamis actually know their identities, and Tikki was expecting him to transform. Guilt and horror crept up quicker.

“I- I don’t know where Plagg is.” 

Mari looked away from Tikki to stare, baffled, at Adrien for following the conversation. “Plagg? Who’s Plagg? What’s a Plagg? Why are you calmly talking to a flying god?”

The tiny kitten flew towards Marinette, “Hi. I’m Plagg and I hate your biscuits. And yes, I’m still mad you stepped on my tail. Time to transform.”

Adrien and Marinette were both froze, too much information to absorb in such little time. 

“TRANSFORM!” Tikki and Plagg were having none of it.

“Uh, yeah, claws out/spots on?” Tikki and Plagg both sighed as they went in to transform. This wasn’t going to be a good fight.

As soon as the bright lights faded away Adrien and Marinette stopped to consider that they transformed in plain sight and on a high balcony, at a clear view from everyone. They only hoped no one saw.

Ladybug was about to talk when she heard Tikki talking to her, “Don’t bother, neither of you is in a state of mind where you can do this alone. Go to Master Fu.”

Ladybug nodded, knowing Tikki was right and motioned Chat, Adrien?! To follow her. 

Ladybug and Chat picked up the other three miraculous before going on their short adventure of getting their sidekicks, Chat never leaving Ladybug’s side even though he was not supposed to know who they were, and Ladybug never telling him off, scared that- well, she didn’t know what she was scared off, but she needed him there.

“This is Nino’s apartment.”

“Yes.”

“He’s not here.”

Ladybug sighed, knowing they should have gone back home first to get Alya. “Where is he?” 

“In my bedroom.” 

Ladybug paused, deciding in between taking the lead again and admitting she knew the route by heart or letting him lead. “Take me.” Chat nodded and took the lead. 

As they got close Chat asked, “Who else of our friends its part of the squad?”

“Well let’s just say that we won’t be the only ones having a rude awakening tonight.”

They made it in through Adrien’s open window, which he didn’t realize he never closed, habit. “Nino!”

“Oh shit. Chat Noir. What’s the special occasion?” 

“Especially destructive Akuma.”

“And an unfortunate set of circumstances.” Ladybug murmured. 

Chat scoffed, slightly mad at the situation, and a bit mad at her comment. “Give him the miraculous.”

“Ok. Now that’s two people who know I’m Carapace. And I still don’t know who you are.”

Chat got close to Ladybug and whispered, “He spends too much time around Alya.” Ladybug nodded as she picked out the Turtle miraculous, handing it to Nino. 

“Won’t tell me?” Both shook their heads. “Oh well, maybe next time.”

Nino began to transform as Ladybug whispered to Chat, “Alya knows who I am. It would only be fair you told him.”

“Why does Alya know?” 

“Because she doesn’t knock.” 

Chat nodded, seeing it perfectly in his head, Mari talking to Tikki and Alya barging in. “I’ll tell him afterward. . . Why do we have to keep it a secret from each other? I understand why we kept it. We had no idea where we were from and what kind of people either of us could be. But we know them. Well, you know them. You trust them. We can tell them.”

“After.” Chat nodded. 

“Ok. Time to kick some Akuma ass!”

“Not yet.” Ladybug climbed the window, getting ready to hunt Chloe down. She was closer.

“We need more help.” She heard Chat tell Carapace behind her. 

As they arrived at Chloe’s and found her, neither Chat and Lady stopped to consider that their company wouldn’t give them privacy, or that the company wouldn’t figure out whose home they were in, and what that meant. 

“Woah! Chloe is Queen Bee!” 

“Shit.” Chat laughed at Ladybug cursing. 

“Ladybug! Am I needed?” Chloe was in a satin gown and clearly about to go to sleep. “Is it the disturbance?” 

“We’ve yet to approach the situation. Call it intuition, but yes, we need all the miraculous.” Lady said, handing Chloe that bee miraculous. 

Chloe looked at both Carapace and Chat Noir. “Three people know who Queen Bee is, but-“

“Yeah, yeah. You don’t know who they are. We’ll talk about that afterward.” Ladybug rushed, as she heard the screams get louder.

One yellow glow later and they were now avoiding disaster as they rushed towards Mari’s house to pick up Alya. 

They dropped on her balcony, as Mari opened the hatch and jumped in looking for Alya.

Bee looked at Chat and Carapace. “Marinette is Rena? That doesn’t make sense.”

Carapace nodded, “Skin complexion is wrong. So is hair color.”

“And eye color,” Bee added.

“She’s not.” Chat said, a bit disgruntled.

Carapace turned to Chat, “What? Don't you think our girl could be Rena? She’s badass and awesome, and really kind! She could be Rena.”

Chat turned to Carapace, and smiled, “I know. . . She’s even better.”

Before Carapace could ask what he meant, both Ladybug and Rena came out of Mari’s bedroom. “Time to go.”

“Ooh, this is the first time we’ve all worked together!”

“Uhu.” Ladybug and Chat Noir said, jumping off to the fight.

It took a while for Carapace, Bee, and Rena to understand why they were needed. Genuinely speaking, Ladybug and Chat could have handled this. They’ve done it before. But both were clearly too distracted, stumbling on their words and actions throughout the entire fight. It worried them that for the first time ever Chat and Lady were not at top notch condition. 

By the end, they managed to capture the Akuma and force a distracted Ladybug to purify it. Only a few citizens with a few injuries that were mostly healed by the purification spell. 

They all ran to a secluded alley where four pairs of eyes just stood and stared at Ladybug.

She kept walking through, deeper into the alley with no exit, completely unaware of her surroundings. 

She was close to smacking straight into a wall, “Bugaboo?” 

“Don’t,” Ladybug froze, realizing what was about to happen, but didn’t turn around, “Don’t . . . don’t be sweet with me.” 

Rena, Carapace, and Bee just stared at the both of them, slightly worried that they could hear all their five miraculous beeping, but neither Chat nor Ladybug seemed in a place to solve the issue of the three people who needed to return their miraculous and remain anonymous at the same time. 

“Don’t? I’m sorry. But why are you mad at me?” To be fair, they were both mad at each other, Chat was mad because had Ladybug, Marinette? Not forced the whole secret issue into their relationship early on, they could have probably just avoided a lot of skirting around each other, that three years of some loneliness and romantic grief are all because of her, that all that didn’t have to happen had she just trusted him.

“I don’t know.” Ladybug, on the other hand, didn’t know why she was mad. “I don’t think I’m mad at you. . . I think I’m mad at myself.” 

“Well, that makes two of us.” 

Ladybug turned around, now furious, because while she may be mad at herself, he had no right to jump on the ‘let’s hate on Mari’ wagon. Personally, she couldn’t understand why he was mad. “What?”

Chat stared back, unfazed, “I said, that that means we are both. Mad. At. You.” 

She just stared, eyes squinting, as though the more she squished, the clearer the answers would be. “I’m- I’m mad at myself because I feel rather stupid right now. Now, are you sure that that’s what you are mad about?” Chat nodded, not understanding why the question. 

Ladybug sighed and turned around, trying to gather her thoughts while ignoring the four set of eyes. To be honest, she just didn’t want Chat, Adrien, neither, to tell her they were mad at her, that in some form she messed up, that she complicated a very easy matter, that she was right about herself. Chat, who always adored her, and Adrien, whom she always adored. She never expected she would ever disappoint her two favorite boys all at the same time and in the same way. 

“Ad- Cha-“

“This didn’t have to be this way.”

“I kno-“

“Just imagine, years ago, us knowing who we were, and maybe, MAYBE, skirting around each other a little, but I figure my great flirting skill would have worked sooner rather than later, and we could have been happy, so long ago.”

“You suck at flirting, but I know, I’m-“

“But you insisted on playing Spiderman, and ‘oh, we have to keep our identities a secret, even from each other, to protect our loved ones’.”

“Ad- Chat, I’m so-“

“You say I’m your partner, but you couldn’t ever trust me with that. I told you from the beginning I trusted you, I wanted you to know from the beginning.” 

“Chat, I kn-“

“So many FUCKING years wasted, me fantasizing about a girl who always seemed so far out of my reach, but basically was already in the palm of my hands, and I never knew that because you never trusted me with knowing who you were. And that must piss you off too, seeing as you were in the same position as well!”

“I’m FUCKING SORRY!” She turned around, yelling, and frustrated, and Chat was about to continue ranting before he saw she was crying. He was angry at her, but that’s definitely something he never wanted to do to his lady, no matter how much she wanted to yell at her more. 

Chat remained quiet, listening to Ladybug gathering her breath and trying to calm herself down and stop the crying, not wanting to make a sound and make it worse. 

Meanwhile, Rena, Bee, and Carapace just stared, gawked, eyes wide, at the spectacle right in front of them.

Another beep, one more to go. 

“Uh . . . Listen.” Ladybug and Chat turned to look at the crew, “I get you are going through a rough moment right now, but we kinda have to go.” 

Ladybug and Chat just stared, neither wanting to leave. Chat didn’t want to give another chance for Marinette to lock up and not talk to him, and Ladybug had no idea how to she was going deal with the three miraculous and their identities. And her mind was too busy at the moment to figure it out. 

Chat sighed, turning back to Ladybug, “Ma- Lady. . .” He looked up, seeing her looking at the ground as she tried to pretend she stopped her tears, “I’m sorry for yelling. I just- I need some time. It’s a bit frustrating the situation you put us through. And right now, I just want to break something and yell at a pillow for a bit, because the last thing I ever want to do as direct a fist a fist at you or make you cry. I’m so sorry.” 

Ladybug nodded, still looking down, “I know.” It was clear in her voice she was trying to keep herself together. “As much as you need, I get it. I- I’ll take the miraculous back to Master Fu. You- . . . You take Chloe back to her place, and Nino to yours, and I’ll deal with Alya, and just. . . whenever you’re ready to talk.” Chat nodded.

Behind him though were three shocked teens, “WHAT?”

They both sighed, knowing what was coming next.

“You told us to keep quiet and then you just reveal it without our permission?!” Alya said furiously, at the two superheroes. 

Before she could say anything else the alley got really bright, like a rainbow, before it settled into a mildly dark alley and a deep silence.

“What?” Nino whispered, taking in the sight in front of him. 

Marinette sighed and began aggressively taking off miraculous, wanting to go home as fast as possible and cry on Alya’s arm already. “Let’s go Alya. It’s a long way home.” Alya remained quiet as she was dragged off by Mari. 

After the footsteps faded away, silence followed. 

“. . . Oh! It’s because Marinette was right behind you all this time and had a massive crush on you, and you also had a massive crush on Ladybug, who is Marinette. Ha.” 

Adrien turned around, slowly, and glared at Chloe. He began muttering to himself as he walked past them, walking in the opposite direction Mari did. All Chloe and Nino heard as he walked past was “You never hit a girl, you never hit a girl, you never hit a girl, you-“ 

Both followed at a fair distance, knowing Adrien had made that rule for himself, but there was no promise he was going to follow it. 

Chloe got slightly closer to Nino, and whispered, “So, those two are fighting.” 

“Kinda figured that out on my own, Chloe,” Nino whispered back. 

“What’s going to happen with you Alya?” 

Nino shrugged. Yes, he was surprised, but not mad. He kept a secret from her as well, and he never had any intentions of telling her, unlike the black and red duo. He didn’t want to be a hypocrite. They both just followed orders from Ladybug, and the first rule was to keep it a secret. If anything, it would make more sense if they all joined the bandwagon with Adrien and were all mad at Marinette for the secret dilemma. But he knew Marinette was over-stressed by having Adrien, the guy she’s been in love with for so many years, mad at her. Three more people weren’t going to make it better for her, and she already learned her lesson. 

“The same as always.”

“That’s nice . . . and boring. But okay.”

“Probably gonna be babysitting the angry cat and the fluttered Ladybug.”

Chloe looked at Nino, “That was dumb.” 

Nino smiled and shrugged, “I thought it was a pretty good line.” 

She scoffed and walked a little closer to Adrien, now not wanting to talk to either. 

Master Fu was only a little bit surprised when Marinette didn’t walk in alone.

“We had some complications. But they’re all here. All the miraculous. If you want to lecture me about it, do it tomorrow, or maybe next week. Right now I need to scream.”

Mari began to walk out without a second to spare and all she heard was,

“Did they figure it out?”

“Apparently so. That- . . . That was something.”

Back home Marinette quickly transformed into Ladybug to help both her and Alya unto her balcony at two in the morning, when her parents were asleep, and the front door was closed. 

After dropping unto her bed and de-transforming she broke down. 

Alya gave her a soft smile as she laid down and began to cuddle her giant cat pillow, “It’s okay.” She threw her slippers away, pulling at the comforter, “We all make oops from time to time. You had no idea it would turn out like this.” 

She covered Mari and herself up their neck with the comforter, hugging her from behind. She settled her face in Mari’s hair, listening to her sobs, and wishing there was a faster way to make her happy. She settled for hugging and petting her to sleep. “He’s mad now, but you heard him. He doesn’t plan to stay mad forever. He can’t ever stay too far away from his Bugaboo for too long.” 

She heard Mari choke on her sob, in an attempt at a laugh, and then go back to sobbing, crying herself to sleep. 

The next morning, after a very lame excuse, Mari convinced her parents that she was in no state to go to school, and while she told them it was for medical reasons, he parents could tell it was for emotional ones. 

Alya agreed to bring her homework home, and updates on the whole miraculous thing. 

After crying for a few more hours, switching between hibernating on her bed, and crying in the shower, while she hoped the water would calm her down, she settled on her workstation, turning on her computer to stare at pictures of Adrien and Chat Noir, because deep inside it was still hard to believe. 

After two hours of staring she finally could not un-see the similarities, and by the time Alya got back from school to deliver her homework she found her crying on her desk, pointing at the computer ‘they’re the same’ and at herself ‘I’m so stupid’, over, and over again. 

After an hour of emotional therapy with Alya and a very awkward and silent dinner with her parents, she settled back in bed, hoping she would fall asleep quicker tonight. And while the Gods answered her prayers, they also laughed in her face. 

She woke up startled, unsure why at first before she heard the watering cans falling on her balcony. She looked at her phone to see it was nearly three in the morning. She’s seen enough horror movies with Alya to know that whatever was on the balcony, it came for her soul. 

She looked at Tikki, resting on top of the cat pillow’s head, lying between the ears, but aware and alert about the intrusion upstairs. 

“I-... .I’ll go first, just in case, don’t want Ladybug to come out of this room out of nowhere. If worse comes to worse, all-“

“Ok. Be careful.” 

Marinette nodded, giving a small pet to Tikki’s head before climbing up to her balcony in the dark. 

She immediately heard the kittens began to approach, and they almost distracted her from the shadow laying on her lawn chair. 

“Who are you?” She saw the shadow shift, “I have cats, and they scratch hard.” 

“I know.” 

Marinette gasped as her eyes began to adjust to the dark, but she could recognize that voice anywhere. Even while it sounded thick with sleep. 

“But they wouldn’t attack a fellow member of their family.” 

Marinette stayed quiet, staring at Adrien resting on her lawn chair as though he’s always been there. 

“They would, and they have!” She looked down to see the tiny cat, A KWAMI? Chasing towards Tails. 

Adrien sighed, “He missed them.” 

She looked up, frozen in place, mouth hanging slightly open, her hair a mess on top of her head, her pajama bottoms hanging a little too low on her hip and her top’s left side hanging too high. “That’s an image I want to be engraved in my mind.” 

It took too long for Marinette to realize he was flirting with her. That he was making light of an appearance he knew she would be too self-conscious about. “t-thanks.” 

Adrien sighed, sitting up, “Oh, come on Mari.” He stood up, making her way towards her, “You have flung me halfway across Paris. You have no reason to be shy. I have reasons to fear you, but you have no reason to be shy of me. 

Mari looked down, lowering her camisole, and fixing her pants, “Old habits die hard, I guess.” 

“I don’t know why you were ever shy,” Adrien placed his hands in his pajama pockets, leaning down and forward with a small smirk, “From what I gather you don’t find my puns that alluring.” 

Marinette sighed, smiling slightly, knowing he was trying to get them back unto to old habits and old behavior.

“I mean, I did them with all intentions of getting my precious Bugaboo to fall so deeply in love with me, and here all I had to do was just send her a set of pictures from my latest photoshoot.” 

Marinette pushed slightly against his chest, as he got increasingly closer to her, “Shut up.” 

He gave a soft laugh, boldly wrapping his arms around her, as she covered her face, refusing to look up, clearly blushing from his teasing. “I mean, a month ago I did one in my underwear, do you think that one would work?” 

Mari laughed sarcastically before going quiet, staring at his chest. 

“Mari?”

“I’m thinking!” 

“About the pictures? Or whether to accept them or not?” The teasing tone was back, and Marinette wished she had taken Adrien’s photoshoot posters down years ago, but instead they remained on her walls, which he probably saw as he came up to her balcony two days prior. 

“About whether to call Tikki and fling you across Paris again.” Truth be told, she was thinking if her pride was worth that much to get those pictures personally from the model himself. 

“Tikki!” The cat kwami flew up to her face that was basically just pressed again Adrien’s chest as she tried to hide her blush, “Where is she?!” 

“On my bed.” The kwami flew away immediately, before she heard, “What? They get your bed and we get the cold balcony?” 

She looked up at the sky in wonder, “What?” She shrugged, “Just wondering if there’s a full moon out, because Chat is out, and the costume isn’t on.” 

Adrien laughed, grabbing her arms, and placing them around his neck, “Oh my sweet Marinette. Chat isn’t a persona, and you know that well. You know what is like to put on those costume and finally be free to let out all aspects of yourself out in the world without fear of judgment. Chat is me, without a filter, and Adrien is just everything my father wants me to be. So, if you don’t like Chat just tell me, and I’ll take Plagg, all these kittens and myself back home.” 

“Why are you taking my kittens?” 

“Because if you can’t love the king of cats, you deserve any kittens!” 

Marinette gave a big, exaggerated sigh, settling into the position he slowly placed her in, in his arms, “I don’t know. I mean Chat is great and all, but . . . Adrien doesn’t have puns.” 

Adrien smiled flat at Marinette, keeping tense eye contact for a few seconds, “. . . Adrien sucks.” 

Mari giggled, “I sure hope not, because if that’s what he’s doing on those bro slumber parties with Nino, then this isn’t gonna work out.” 

“Oh please, Nino wouldn’t look at me twice, no matter how hard I tried.”

“Well, Alya can be very intimidating and possessive.” 

“As I’ve gathered.” 

Mari smiled as she stared at a set of green eyes that somehow shined in the dark. In a surge of confidence, she lifted her arm, softly placing her right hand on his face, softly and slowly tracing his facial features. “I’m sorry.” She whispered, not wanting her apology to break the moment of peace they had.

“I know. You did what you thought was best. It was just somewhat infuriating.” He whispered, slowly moving his face with her hand, to help her explore all his face. 

Her fingers slowly dropped onto his lips, along with her eyes, “Three years wasted.” 

“I don’t know. You were pretty shy back then. I feel it’s safer to say maybe two?” 

She gave a soft smile as she saw her fingers move with his lips, “I couldn’t utter a sentence without a stutter.” 

“But when the costume came on, you flung me halfway across Paris.” 

Marinette scoffed as he ruined the moment, “You’re never gonna get over that, are you?” 

“. . . You flung me halfway across Pa-“ 

Marinette shut him up with a kiss and all the confidence of the Ladybug who flung him across Paris. 

She pulled away to look at Adrien who had yet to open his eyes, “Well, if you give me more of those, I think I can forgive you for everything that you did, and everything you might do.” 

She laughed softly, “Are you sure you want to make that trade? Women don’t forget.” 

“Infinite kisses for the promise that if you did anything, but murder or cheating, I would forgive you, no questions asked, as long as I got more kisses? Seems easy for me.” 

She giggled placing a few scattered kisses on his lips, “Remind me next time we’re fighting akumas that your only form of transportation is me throwing you into the air in any direction.” 

Adrien paused, thinking over what she said, “. . . yeah, ok. But pay up.” 

Marinette kissed him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and putting as much emotion into that kiss, in hopes that he could feel all her love and all her apologies in that one kiss. “I’m sorry”

Adrien refused to part from her lips, anything said, spoken against them, “Shh. . . The only apologies I want are those that come with lip-gloss.” 

Marinette pulled away and laughed, “Fine. I’ll give you that one. That one was good.”

“Who said I was done?” Adrien pulled her back in, relishing in the bliss that they were both finally were they had wanted to be for so long, and nothing was gonna take them out of there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I want to apologize to the 2-4 people who read this chapter when I accidentally posted only half of it, and it was the bottom, spoiler half. I hope you all came back to read this proper ending. 
> 
> When I wrote the first note I hadn't written the chapter. Now that I have, I had no idea it would take me to the petty flying chat joke. 
> 
> I'd like to confess another reason I couldn't finish this earlier. I started reading another Miraculous fanfiction, and I couldn't stop! Satisfaction Brought It Back by siderealSandman (https://archiveofourown.org/works/5978767?view_full_work=true) I'm still not done, and it hurt to stop, but you guys had waited for too long. 
> 
> Now this is helping me get more comfortable with writing sexy or romantic stuff, so maybe I'll be more descriptive for my next one. Lord knows I have a list of prompts ready to go. 
> 
> If you have any prompt you'd like me to write about, feel free to request a story. 
> 
> Thanks for sticking through and reading this shit show, I love all of you who read, and I won't lie, I love those who commented and left kudos more! You are the reason why I kept writing because I know there are people who open this, read two lines and decided they don't like this story, so views don't count for me. 
> 
> See you next time!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not good at slow builds. That is something I'm practicing with my Gabriel/Emilie Agreste fanfiction Before the Storm (https://archiveofourown.org/works/13764990 if you're interested). This could be a slow build, or this could fall apart really quickly. 
> 
> We'll see where the story takes us.


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